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Cruise control isn't efficient (Escape)

I recently took a road-trip to Vegas. Gas mileage was approx. 28-29mpg on the way there. The hills really killed my mileage.

Most of the way there I used manual acceleration with some cruise control. I got there using 2/3 of a tank and had about 197 miles left over when I got there.

On the way back, I set the cruise control for 70-75. My average mileage was approx. 25mpg.

What I noticed is that the cruise control will burn up gas to keep you at a certain speed and then use some gas on downhills to make sure u don't go over the speed also.

On manual control, I tend to coast more to maintain a smooth feel and worry less about hitting an exact speed.

I've also noticed this on the LA freeways which have slight hills that throw off the cruise control.

My typical LA commute is about 60-70 miles per day. I average 33 mph per tank of gas.

When I let myself get stuck in freeway traffic, I have gotten 40-41 mpg on 2 occasions!!

It's hard to do, however, because the gas engine will typically come on to re-charge the batteries.

I also find that one tip is NOT to baby the Escape. If you take longer to accelerate from a start you seem to use more gas for a longer period of time. Accelerate normally up to your cruise speed and then coast or if stuck in slow traffic just coast.